GENESEO, N.Y. — It was a true fight to the finish for the Oswego State women’s basketball team against Geneseo. The Lakers went to battle against SUNY Geneseo and this matchup did not disappoint. It was a fight back and forth until ultimately one layup decided the contest with a final score of 49-51. This game was neck and neck until the very end. After the first quarter Geneseo had the momentum up seven points. The Lakers refused to go down this early however, going on a twelve to four run in the second putting them up two points at the half. Freshman Shania Iglesias scored twelve points with six coming from the three point line. Senior Logan Castiglione also had an impressive performance with nine points. Both Oswego and Geneseo put up sixteen points in the third leaving this game up for grabs in the final quarter. One key steal by Geneseo put them up by two in the final seconds of the contest to give them the win. Despite this tough loss the Lakers recorded an impressive sixteen turnovers. The Lakers face Oneonta in a SUNYAC matchup this Friday at 5:30 p.m. in the Max Ziel Gymnasium. Check it out live on WTOP 10!
Image Provided by Oswego State Athletics
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Women’s Basketball Ends Season on High-Note
OSWEGO, NY – The women’s basketball team split their games this weekend to finish the season including their final win of the 2022-2023 season.
Friday’s game concluded with the Lakers losing to Brockport 53-49 in overtime. Very little happened in the first quarter as both teams struggled from the paint. The game started out with Brockport’s Anna Felice making a three-pointer to give the Golden Eagles a 3-0 lead. After that little happened between the two teams. The score was tied twice in the quarter with the Golden Eagles taking a 7-5 lead over the Lakers after quarter one. The Lakers went 20% the field and the Golden Eagles went 15.38% from the field. The second quarter was the same story as the first quarter. The quarter began with Chastin Giles making her first three-pointer of the day with 8:21 left in the second quarter. Less than 40 seconds later Sydney Hoefs would connect on her second three-pointer of the day to put the Lakers up 13-7. Juliana Logana would extend the Lakers lead to eight 15-7. The Golden Eagles would rally but the Lakers would lead 19-16 at halftime. Julia Logana and Sydney Hoefs would both lead the Lakers with six points at the half.
The third quarter would start with Zairea Hannah scoring to put the Golden Eagles down by one. The Lakers would respond about 30 seconds later with Caitie Lilly scoring to extend the Lakers lead to 21-18. The Golden Eagles manage to come close to taking the lead away from the Lakers but the Lakers held strong. Brockport struggled from the field in the second quarter going 3-16 and shooting 18.75%. The Lakers led 33-26 heading into the fourth quarter. Logan Castiglione helped extend the Lakers lead to ten connecting on a three-pointer with 9:10 left in the fourth quarter. Anna Lee would tie the game for the Golden Eagles at 41 with 1:27 left in the fourth quarter. The game would be tied at 41 going into overtime. In overtime, Zairea Hannah extended the Golden Eagles lead to 43-41 in the beginning of the overtime period. Chastin Giles would bring the Lakers back connecting on her second three-pointer of the game with 2:40 left in overtime. Shannon Blankenship would respond 28 seconds later making a three-pointer to help extend the Golden Eagles lead to 50-44 with 2:12 left in the game. Chastin Giles made a free-throw which brought the Lakers down 51-49 with 16 seconds left. Anna Felice would seal the Lakers fate with two free-throws to make the final score 53-49. Juliana Logana and Chastin Giles would both lead the Lakers with nine points on the day.
The second game saw the Lakers rebound from their loss against Brockport getting their final win of the season defeating the Fredonia Blue Devils 65-51. The Lakers found themselves in a bad position in the beginning of the first quarter trailing 8-0 with just 1:48 into the game, including giving up two three pointers to Fredonia’s Renee Park and Jaden Sciotti. Elaina Johnson would score the first points of the game for the Lakers to put them down 8-2. Sydney Hoefs made a three-pointer to bring the Lakers down by three and Shania Iglesias cut into the Blue Devils lead by cutting the Lakers deficit to just two at 10-8. The Lakers rallied to tie the game at 18 at the end of quarter one. Juliana Logana helped the Lakers take the lead at two at the beginning of the second quarter. With 4:50 left in the second quarter, Sydney Hoefs made another three-pointer to extend the Lakers lead to 12. Chastin Giles made a layup to extend the Lakers lead to 14 their biggest lead of the day so far in the game. Fredonia’s Allie Wandell made a three-pointer with 46 seconds left in the second quarter but the Lakers would lead 40-32 at the half.
The third quarter began with no scoring until 7:23 left in the third quarter with Mary Culeton making two free-throws to cut into the Lakers lead at 40-34. With 3:54 left in the third quarter Alena Wright cut into the Lakers lead at 41-38. The Lakers extended their lead to 49-38 at the end of the third quarter. Fredonia’s Sarah Seaman cut into he Lakers lead to seven making a three-pointer. Logan Castiglione made back-to-back three-pointers to seal the Blue Devils fate. Elaina Johnson added the final point of the day for the Lakers for their 65-51 win over the Blue Devils. The Lakers went off in terms of scoring as they had four double-digit scorers on the day with Logan Castiglione, Elaina Johnson, Sydney Hoefs, and Juliana Logana who would all finish the day with 10+ points. Elaina Johnson had a career game leading the Lakers with 18 points on the day. Sydney Hoefs would lead the Lakers in both games with 19 points and led the Lakers with four three-pointers in both games. Overall, Logan Castiglione would have a career year leading the Lakers in points with 209, her previous record was 119 points last season. Karleigh Leo was second on the team with 200 points as a transfer student who made an immediate impact right away. Shania Iglesias would also improve this season as she finished third on the team in points with 176.
The Lakers conclude the season with their best finish at 13-12 their best record since the 2012-2013 season. They’ll head into the 2023-2024 season with a lot of confidence after a resurgence year from their team.
PHOTO CREDITS PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
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Progress Report: Oswego State men’s basketball
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s basketball has had a hot start to the season. They boast a 7-1 record and are undefeated in SUNYAC play over four games. The Lakers started their season on a three game win streak. They hosted the Max Ziel Tournament, beating Elmira and Hobart handily to win the whole thing. They followed the tournament with a non-conference win over Clarkson. They finished their early slate of non-conference games with their lone loss against the Nazareth Golden Flyers on November 23 in a nail bitter, they lost by two points. They opened SUNYAC play on November 30, and have won all four games thus far, beating Cortland, Buffalo State, Brockport, and Fredonia.
The team is led by Senior guard Julien Crittendon who has 12.1 points per game, while getting 2.4 rebounds per game and is second on the team is steals per game at 1.6. The team’s leader in steals per game is Freshman Guard Ahkee Anderson at 2.1 per game. Anderson also leads the team in assists at 3.9 while also contributing 8.0 points and 2.6 rebounds. Junior Guard Devin Green is the teams sharpshooter. He is hitting threes at .457% clip, which leads the team. He contributes 8.5 points per game and collects 4.5 rebounds per game. Oswego’s glass cleaner is Sophomore guard Jeremiah Sparks with 7.0 rebounds per game, while also being second on the team in scoring at 11.9. Grad Transfer Brendon Mulson has also made his impact. He averages 9.5 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while being a very efficient .448% from the field shooting.
As a team, the defense is what makes them stand out. They lead the SUNYAC in points against per game at 55.8, a whole 10 points lower than second best Brockport. Against conference foes its an even better 53.3 against per game. The offense is middle of the pack so far. They average 74.0 points per game, which sits them seventh.
Currently, the team sits second in the SUNYAC, behind Geneseo who are 4-3, 3-0 in conference. They have seventeen games remaining in the season. They come out of their eighteen day break in the St. John Fisher Tournament against Rensaeller Polytechnic Institute on December 29. The winner will face the winner of St. John Fisher and Medaille on December 30. RPI currently sits 21 in the most recent men’s basketball rankings, while Oswego received 10 votes. No other SUNYAC team received votes or are ranked. The team has three non-conference games remaining, including the tournament, followed by fourteen games of conference play to finish the season. WTOP 10 will have continuing coverage of all home men’s basketball games throughout the season as the Lakers look to continue their early success.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY SHELBY PEPLOWSKI, WTOP 10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
